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A site dedicated to discussing a variety of action & martial arts film entertainment, and part time contributor to The Action Elite. The written and expressive work of the author(s) of Film Combat Syndicate is/are protected by Copyright Law. To send us scoops or share your inquiries, email us at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com.

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Close to forty years since actor Sylvester Stallone paved the way for one of his biggest most successful movie franchises to date, his latest puts new blood into the ring that nonetheless aims at revitalizing the spirit and tone of a young and driven protagonist. For this, we seek to wonder if Fruitvale Station helmer, Ryan Coogler's latest, Creed, will begin to accomplish what four decades have done for Stallone in the longstanding Rocky saga, though it's safe to suggest that our leading man, Michael B. Jordan, has stepped up to the plate and is, as much of this may sound as a pun to many, going for it!

Seldom do I have the chance to see survival thrillers and I always welcome them as part of my film enjoyment, especially if the trailer convinces me enough. Certainly, it has done so with the presence of actress, writer and producer Natalie Burn who puts every piece of herself into her latest role in Mark Atkins' new film, Awaken, which already has just under a dozen wins and one nomination stemming from its film festival run in the past several months.

FUNimation and Fathom Events are staking their claim this summer once again with Toriyama Akira's latest, Dragon Ball Z: Ressurection 'F'. It's one more reason for anime fans non-residential from Japan's audiences to head to the theaters this summer and considering its a limited release, this is a great opportunity to catch the exciting follow-up from last year's Battle Of Gods. Not to mention that the Dragon Ball Z franchise is Toriyama's brainchild, so the fact that he directed and treated this one should be a no-brainer.

Times are good for fans within a specific film niche, especially when those in power can heed to the call of its base - a case none too far from that of the ilk in line for Higuchi Shinji's live-action Attack On Titan tête-à-tête between August and September through Toho Company based on the popular manga and anime. For this, we can lend three cheers to FUNimation for representing the Americas for the releases of both film's ahead of the company's July-slated world premiere screening of the film in Los Angeles at the Egyptian Theater in addition to events at San Diego Comic-Con 2015 with Higuchi in attendance.

Ochiai Ken's suspenseful swordplay drama, Uzumasa Limelight became an award-winning festival sensation during its run last year and it's safe to suggest that many of the critics who have seen it all stand behind this one. It's an ardent homage to a bygone era of stylish stunt acting with longtime veteran Fukumoto Seizo in his debut lead role after half a century of having established himself in the world of swordplay genre and action on film, which undoubtedly makes Uzumasa Limelight one worthy of moviegoers' utmost attention.

Not that I have the space for one in my own home these days, but when I was younger, I always wanted a full-size T-800 model Endoskeleton from the Terminator franchise. I was a big fan then and I even played the virtual arcade game as much as I could, but as for my own fascination with it, it wouldn't go as far as owning my own Terminator.

One other takeaway from EuropaCorp's CineEurope2015 presentation this week is one that definitely may have been longawaited for moviegoers fond of actress Zoe Saldana. By 2011 she had already claimed the female lead in J.J. Abrams's rebooted Star Trek film in 2009 with a career big enough to give her a solo spotlight in future titles, namely director Olivier Megaton's assassin thriller, Colombiana.

A North American release date remains pending for director Chen Kaige's latest offering, Monk Comes Down The Mountain. In the meantime, with trailers running about, Sony Pictures Australia unveiled its latest trailer several days ago for its own release on July 2, and while earlier trailers have shown more of the film's comedic tone, this one certainly engages the martial arts spectacle and fantasy much more.

Fanfare remains ongoing for the long standing Patlabor franchise in its currently-rebooted iteration, The Next Generation: Patlabor. A seven part episodic series of twelve 48-minute shows leading up to its feature film back in May did the trick in revitalizing Headgear's popular manga/anime franchise as per the brainchild of acclaimed co-creator Oshii Mamoru spearheading the project along with a handful of directors, and it's been no easy feat.

Former K-1 champion, professional fighter Bukaw Banchamek is moreso a lesser known action actor aside from having also appeared in Nopporn Watin's 2010 period thriller, Yamada: The Samurai Of Ayothaya. Nonetheless, that hasn't stopped him from the prospects of taking his potential beyond the ring and onto a movie set, and his latest move now appears to be yet another period actioner in the form of Thongdee: The Warrior.

Star Trek: Beyond is reportedly revving up production this week in Canada and the word now is that lead actors Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto have signed onto a fourth film, according to THR. Both, who respectively reprise the roles of James T. Kirk and Vulcan-born Spock, were reportedly optioned a fourth movie as the result of concessions made by Paramount when the intial 7-year deal in 2007 prior to the two appearing in J.J. Abrams 2009 reboot, Star Trek, expired last year as development on the upcoming third film languished.

Vendetta star, actor Danny Dyer is back as a killer on the run from his employers in the writer, producer and director J.K. Amalou's latest, Assassin. Multiple Media Entertainment Inc. is releasing the film on July 1 with Dyer starring alongside Martin Kemp and Gary Kemp whilst lending U.K. audiences some more action for its local niche. Check out the latest trailer!

Hollywood stunt professionals partaking in directing their own movies is always a feat to look forward to. It doesn't always happen but when it does, it does so with a general appeal toward the fans its meant for, and Lionsgate/87Eleven's cinematic rendering, John Wick is one of the more prominent examples in thay effort.

If there were ever a dual performance to look forward to, it's with what Mad Max: Fury Road star, actor Tom Hardy appears to have accomplished in acclaimed screenwriter Brian Helgeland's latest, Legend. Based on author John Pearson's 1972 novel, the story here set in London's swinging era bodes just nicely with Hardy immersing himself as Reggie and Ron Kray - two notorious twin brothers with very distinct personalities rising in the criminal ranks. You can imagine what all else factors into that sort of decision making as things mount with more sizzling drama, grit and danger, and it's nice to see such an actor seemingly pulling it off so well.

Crime, romance, passion and danger are the major outline in director Jesse Johnson's latest noir action flick, The Beautiful Ones. It certainly bodes as one of the most impressive thrillers I've ever seen, laden with numerous stylish tropes attributed to classic 60's and 70's cinema and celebrity without losing its own sense of identity, and we certianly have actor Ross McCall to thank for that.

Lest I be the one to tell you what happens at the end of director James Wan's Spring blockbuster hit, Furious Seven, you can catch the movie in an extended edition Blu-Ray with over 100 minutes of behind-the-scenes content this September. Incidentally, you will also spend some of the best two hours and change of the saga as a whole with film chock-filled with intensity, poignancy and explosive action, followed by a heartfelt farewell to franchise principle, late actor Paul Walker who played Brian O'Connor.

China's recent dealings and inner-workings with Hollywood are lending quite a bit of visual muscle these days in Asian cinema. Animation specialist Raman Hui is certainly ready to benefit from this as he's now taking cues from his earlier time at Dreamworks for titles like Antz and the Shrek trilogy for his latest directorial offering, Monster Hunt, in a milestone effort to echo the same production qualit throughout Asia. Edko's Bill Kong produces the film with a script by Hui along with Alan Yuen, and the premise is a perfect fitting for Hui to flex his creative muscle for Asia's Journey To The West crowd.

Writer and director Kim Seong-hun's recent suspensful thriller, A Hard Day, was one of the most excellent films brought into the fray back in 2014, hitting loads of high-notes among critics and festivalgoers alike after its run in South Korea. Thankfully, a more commercial response for audiences in the U.S. isn't too far off with a select theatrical release date on July 17, and as such, we now have a trailer to accomodate you at the very bottom.

One Hour Photo and Never Let Me Go helmer Mark Romanek is poised to direct the new biographical heist thriller and while it's based on a true story, the premise alone is bound to give way for thrilling intensity and heightened drama to accomodate the action. It does also come with the staunch reminder of just how close art has come to imitating life, and especially in the wake of how today's municipal local powers implement authority in America today.

There's no doubt in anyone's mind at this point that the fandom behind the hit anime/manga, Shingeki no Kyojin / Attack On Titan is already revved up for Higuchi Shinji's newest live-action adaptation. A first trailer for the sci-fi epic twofer has already circulated the internet as of earlier this year, and now with film just a little over a month away from its release, a brand new trailer is up and running with our heroes armed and in flight!

Filming has reportedly begun for the latest desert survival thriller, Brimstone. Actor Kit Harrington, fresh from his death on HBO's Game Of Thrones has joined the cast according to THR, and will play an outlaw with an integral role in a story led by actress Dakota Fanning(Man On Fire, Push, The Twilight Saga); Both respectively replace Robert Pattinson and Mia Wasikowska who were attached back in February.

The film industry in most places around the globe haven't exactly been bustling with superhero movies of their own in the wake of all the Marvel and DC fandom at hand. There are some successes though and if you're keen enough, you'll notice them if not already, and it's assuredly a continuing theme you will see from time to time.

Director Choi Dong-hoon's newest period espionage thriller, Assassination, is poised for a limited U.S. release on August 7, 2015 as of a week ago. In the meantime, moviegoers at home in South Korea can look forward to catching this one close to one months from now on July 22, so it's high time we saw a full trailer which is finally online with Choi's enlistment of principles, including actress Gianna Jun and actors Lee Jung-Jae, Oh Dal-su, Ha Jung-Woo, Cho Jin-woong and Lee Kyoung-young.

Hmk... it hasn't exactly been very long since actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson made headlines with the upcoming remake of Big Trouble In Little China, on top of the latest series premiere of the HBO original series, Ballers. Point in fact, he's also just off of a hugely successful run having starred in director Brad Peyton's disaster flick, San Andreas lending further credence to his starpower, so it's no wonder that Johnson is still one of the most sought after actors today.

Universal Studios premiered the latest Fast & Furious: Supercharged ride today, headlined by it's star-studded cast. Alas, today was obviously the best day for Universal Pictures to announce the forthcoming extended edition of Furious Seven, directed James Wan. The eighth installment is still developing for its expansion to New York City and elsewhere and a director is still being sought after as far as anyone knows; I'm sure fans are hoping for Justin Lin to return. We'll see.

It's taken three years since Sony revamped Marvel's Spider-Man franchise with actor Andrew Garfield following Tobey MacGuire's preceding trilogy. It begs the question however: How many Spider-Men does it take for a famed comic book movie franchise to work on the big screen?

eOne is granting a limited theatrical release for helmer Nadeem Soumah's latest crime pic, 6 Ways To Die. Grisled actor Vinnie Jones stars opposite Michael Rene Walton and as the story and title would have it, Jones wants revenge, and not just the quick and easy kind!

Nope, there's no going away yet for action star Dolph Lundgren who already has a handful of titles on par for release between now and next year, few of which include Shark Lake, Don't Kill It and Riot. This week, Variety updates fans with word of another film he'll soon star in called Larceny which bodes favorably for helmer R. Ellis Frazier just after working with martial arts star Gary Daniels on Misfire and Rumble.

This has to be the most explosive extended trailer I've seen for the upcoming release of director Aleksander Bach's Agent 47. I'm also grateful that it isn't too spoilery as that sort of thing is to be expected nowadays by various TV spots, although the plot point revealed with respect to actress Hannah Ware alongside lead actor Rupert Friend lends quite the eyeopener.

It's always great when chance favors the hopeful, and it's no secret that fans have hoped to see Tony Jaa in the company of our current cast line-up for the production of Never Back Down 3 in Thailand from Stage 6. White reprises his role from the 2011 titular sequel as ex-convict, martial artist and former professional fighter Case Walker who now decides to revert back to a career in the ring where fans will see plenty of fighting prowess from folks like Ron Smoorenburg, Brahim Achabbakhe, Nathan Jones and former UFC champion Josh Barnett.

Specific fans of actor and martial artist Phillip Rhee may know him from a pre-Best Of The Best list of films like LA Streetfighters and Furious. However, it was through the aforementioned 1989 Bob Radler-directed martial arts tournamant drama in which he rose to fame along with brother, fellow actor and martial artist Simon Rhee, eventually leading to a theatrical sequel in 1992 before two more home releases 1995 and 1998.

The last few years are probably the longest I've spent with my eye on any particular project by any filmmaker or actor. It's certainly the case for University Of York graduate, student filmmaker Andrew Kueh's newly released sci-fi action short, Prime Contact, which finally released online last week more than a year after its completion with its subsequent pursuit through festivals, and further correspondence with its producer, Harry Woodman, was also pretty insightful.

This week's Hit List has some substance to it, if I may say so myself. One shortfilm finally came out in particular and it's one I've covered quite a bit lately and I'm proud to have done as much as I have on it, and you'll see more coverage on Tuesday.

The current trailer campaign for the upcoming July 31 release of Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation doesn't really try to out-do itself between trailers. That may be up to the pending TV spots as spoilery as they tend to get, but all the trailers haven't exactly dimmed on excitement with Tom Cruise in high speed motorcycle chases, long vertical dives into deep water, fighting off rogue agents bent on the IMF's annihilation, and of course the whole hanging-off-of-a-plane thing. None of this is worth overlooking and it's a credit to director Christopher McQuarrie and writer Drew Pearce in making this one what may be our hero's last mission...or is it?

Period war movies are often subject to the internal focus of its set characters in the face of war in all its horrors. Ooka Shohei's 1951 semi-biographical World War II novel, Nobi, proved useful as source material for Ichikawa Kon's 1959 film adapation, Fires On The Plain, and multi-faced actor and director Tsukamoto Shinya's latest grisly reimagining has certainly allowed him to showcase his strengths, garnered its share of attention in the festival circuit within the past year.

If you're keen on the summer film festivals and love to spice things up, Japan Cuts is certainly offering up its own fair share of titles that promise a variety of drama, comedy and action. That said, In The Hero helmer Take Masaharu's late 2014 boxing dramedy, 100 Yen Love, has a little bit of everything to offer with an artful performance led by actress Ando Sakura making her way to the ring, gloves and all.

Finally on par for a limited theatrical and digital release this Fall is writer and director Daniel Lee's latest period epic, Dragon Blade. The film is certainly a record breaker in several ways from its market sales last year to its production value and subsequent box office success in the first three days of its opening run, and it's good to see a film like this now making some headway toward the big screen for audiences beyond. Nary a Jackie Chan epic like this gets the mainstream big screen treatment in the U.S. and that will certainly change in time, but aside from earlier reviews, its latest trailer surely demands it.

It's been a few busy years for rising action star and former WWE wrestler John Hennigan. He's another in a slew of examples of professional athletes taking their entertainment craft into the world of film and much like the last several decades, the result proves to be rewarding in some capacity or another.

New Yorkers and fans around the country have their own respective events often in celebration of specific classic titles in the martial arts genre, and director Michael Schultz's 1985 cult classic, The Last Dragon, is no exception. Old heads are keen to understanding just how big a deal this movie is and the role it played in propelling the kung fu genre into America's cinematic subculture with fans lending their own affinity for the legendary story of young Harlemite Leroy Green and his arduous journey in search of "the glow" and the power it wields.

Just off the heels of completing his latest role in The Bodyguard, yes, action legend and choreographer Sammo Hung is still making movies, and this time he's with director Benny Chan for the current production of period war flick, The Deadly Reclaim. Chan reunites with quite a few of the cast from previous films, namely The White Storm lead actors Lau Ching-Wan and Louis Koo, as well as New Police Story co-stars Liu Kai-Chi and Sammy Hung, and Invisible Target antagonist, action star Wu Jing in his latest role since his last two films were so physically tolling they nearly put him out of commission.

Director Denis Villeneuve will be the one handling the upcoming Blade Runner sequel, which will undoubtedly immerse itself in a realm far from the lesser-glazed and gritty, violent and grounded tone for his latest crime pic, Sicario. Nonetheless, the newest trailer arrived and if it's any indication after turning heads in Cannes last month, Villeneuve's prospects ought to be looking great right about now.

Last year was a great year for Korean action cinema, and director Park Heung-sik's latest period revenge flick, Memories Of The Sword would have had a place at the time for its late 2014 release were it not for certain headlines and a bit of rabblerousing involving the film's stars, namely actress Jeon Do-yeon and actor Lee Byung-hun. Thankfully, it's a new season in a new year and the important thing is that the film is finally on deck for an August release, and a teaser finally circulating with some astonishing luster and beautiful ambience to accommodate its wuxia centerpiece.

Picturing actor Jack Black as an action hero would be something of an impossible feat to pull of, but he's done quite so successfully in the past decade or so the lead in Dreamworks Animation's Kung Fu Panda trilogy. The first film was absolutely brilliant and the second wasn't as substantive but scored plenty of points for spectactle in the epic telling of a sizeable panda's fish-out-of-water journey toward kung fu greatness in the face of evil and of self-discovery. With the third now on the way in Kung Fu Panda 3, aside from the second film's ending, you still wonder what else is left to tell, and the latest official trailer acknowleges that rightly so.

Director Choi Dong-hoon's new period espionage thriller, Assassination, is getting a leg up this week with new character posters which you may view at the bottom of the page. The film is poised for a release in South Korea this July while the promotional campaign rolls on with its fair share of the usual trailers and featurettes, and other gems pertaining to the new movie which reunites Choi with a handful of notable actors.

Yes, it's that time of the year again! The New York Asian Film Festival is getting the ball rolling with events happening at Lincoln Center and the School of Visual Arts and tickets are on sale now with varying prices and specials for all those attending. Fans who follow Asian cinemalore with a preference toward action might fall in love with the line-up being offered and host to a number of classic and newly-released titles in multiple genres.

From its short film inception in 2011 to its subsequent development and production in the last four years, R.K.S.S. Collective directing trio Anouk Whissell, François Simard and Yoann-Karl Whissell have made sheer headway in the festival circuit with their new retro-powered sci-fi action epic, Turbo Kid. From Sundance and SXSW to Fantaspoa and Neuchatel, the new film sets a tone for a niche long keen on nostalgic tropes with dazzling special effects and much of them being delightfully practical between costume design and the visbly gory action sequences.

It was back in April that Lionsgate alerted moviegoers in a press release of its newly-formed distribution arm, Lionsgate Premiere with action star Jackie Chan's Spring success story, Dragon Blade to be the first of the slate. Since then, it appears Chan has been intent on making headlines as much as possible whilst continuing to do away with any talk of retirement whatsoever with Rush Hour 4 and Shanghai Dawn among several to which he has since confirmed between now and the past year, on top of managing a new media academy in Wuhan as the Dean.